Chapter Eighty-two: A Difficult Reversal
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Although he is a few months younger than Wang Shengchao, Zhang Linpeng has been eating beef and mutton since childhood, plus his training and competition have always been intense, so not only does he have a better physical foundation, but also his development is much earlier than Wang Shengchao. Now he already has a height of over 1.8 meters, and his physique is far stronger than the thin and weak Wang Shengchao. At present, whether it's strength, jumping ability, speed or explosive power, Zhang Linpeng is far superior to Wang Shengchao, and those who directly feel this difference are naturally his opponents...
The current lineup of the Qilu team does not actually have a traditional winger, and their wing attack mainly relies on the insertion of the full-back. Due to the injury of the main left-back Wang Chao, the player who is currently playing this position for the Qilu team is Yuan Weiyi, a national youth team member from Shandong, who is nicknamed "A Ge" by Shandong fans. He has good physical qualities in all aspects, so when he faced Wang Shengchao, whose body was not yet fully developed, he had an obvious advantage in every aspect and played very well. However, when he faced Zhang Linpeng, whose physical quality was not inferior to his own and even surpassed him in some ways, Yuan Weiyi's performance suddenly became mediocre, and the right-wing defense of the Dongfang team quickly became more stable.
Although the Eastern team's midfield was missing a defensive midfielder, Kolne's extensive running largely made up for the defensive loopholes in the midfield. In addition, the timely and efficient supplementary defense of the rear guard core Caballero allowed the Eastern team to stabilize on the field despite being one man short.
However, since they were already two goals behind, it was not enough for the Oriental team to just defend their position. After entering the second half, the left-back Rong Huang of the Oriental team increased his frequency of assists and forward runs. Previously, Yu Hai had caused considerable trouble for the Qi Neng team, and now another player with similar breakthrough ability but more flexibility, Rong Huang, was coming up, making the right flank of the Qi Neng team suddenly feel threatened. However, the biggest change for the Oriental team was still Gao Jun's position moving forward. As a result, Shandong team's foul tactics had to be reconsidered. With Gao Jun closer to the penalty area, their fouls not only risked getting cards but also gave the opponent free kicks and even penalties in dangerous positions, which would be too costly.
Of course, one of the negative effects of Gao Jun doing so is that the Eastern team's midfield attack has almost completely disappeared. After all, there is only Koln in the midfield now, and no matter how strong his ability is, he cannot afford to take care of the offense while desperately defending and blocking the loopholes at the same time.
However, the Oriental team's side-road attack ability is still quite strong even within Asia. As long as Gao Jun can revive, relying solely on side-road attacks already has great power. In the 56th minute, Rong Hao successfully made a pass to the bottom line with Yu Hai's cooperation and almost sent out a cross that was difficult for the defender to handle. At this time, the defensive strength of the Qi Neng team was either drawn away by Ao Lin who retreated or stared at Gao Jun nervously. As a result, Ribeiro, who had inserted in front of him in time, easily completed the package and shot the door near the far post, tying the score on the field to 1:2.
"The brilliance of Dongfang team's left forward Yu Hai in the past two years has made us overlook Rong Hua, a mainstay left-back for both Dongfang and the national youth team. In my opinion as a veteran football commentator, his ability is by no means inferior to Yu Hai's. Shanghai Flower should seize the opportunity to poach him before his value rises! ...Tang Meng inadvertently exposed his bias again while praising Rong Hua..."
In the following game, the Eastern team continued to take advantage of the weakness of Shandong's full-backs who had not returned to their positions and the lack of speed of their central defenders and defensive midfielders. They frequently launched quick counter-attacks from the flanks, creating multiple scoring opportunities in less than ten minutes. If it were another coach, he might have chosen to strengthen his defense to hold onto the three points, but Tudor, who was extremely persistent in attack, surprisingly replaced a defensive midfielder with young center-forward Han Dapeng, continuing to strengthen his offense. Tudor could see that some of the Eastern players on the field were no longer running as actively as before, clearly having reached their physical limit. If they didn't dare to take the initiative to attack when facing an exhausted Eastern team, then what right did Shandong have to compete for the Super League title?
However, it was the Eastern team that rewrote the score first. Gao Jun took advantage of the weakness in the opponent's midfield defense and ran out into space. Kornei seized the opportunity to send a high-quality through ball for the first time in this game. Gao Jun accelerated sideways and shook off Basen's mark, bringing the ball into Shandong team's penalty area. Shandong team's central defender, Shu Chang, rushed over to intercept but missed the ball and instead collided with Gao Jun, sending him tumbling to the ground. In that instant, he felt a chill in his heart, knowing a penalty kick was unavoidable. But just as he lost focus for that split second, Gao Jun, who had already fallen to the ground, took advantage of his low center of gravity and quickly scrambled back up with an awkward-looking posture, taking two steps to catch up to the ball, and then directly kicked it into the net with his foot, leveling the score without needing a penalty kick!
"Even if it's an obvious foul, with the quality of domestic referees, they might not see it, and directly shooting the ball in is safer." Tang Meng couldn't help but praise, while a bad feeling arose in his heart. The core player of Dongfang team was so powerful that Shanghai's top team, Huahua team, might lose their position...
Gao Jun directly kicked the ball into the goal, allowing Shu Chang to avoid the misfortune of being given a yellow card. However, this greatly boosted the morale of their entire team. The pressing that was originally unable to be sustained due to physical exhaustion suddenly strengthened, and Shandong Qilu's slow-paced playing style was most afraid of pressing. For a time, the situation on the field became one-sided. In the 75th minute, Gao Jun received Yu Hai's cross and unexpectedly directly shot with his side foot, volleying the ball into the air. Although Shandong goalkeeper Li Lei touched the ball, it still went in due to its high speed. The 10-man Dongfang team stubbornly reversed the score, achieving a stunning comeback! Although they were overturned by their opponents, Tu Ba did not regret strengthening his attack through substitutions. He had already fully understood the strengths and weaknesses of the Dongfang team. Although they incredibly tied the score, they also used up their last bit of physical energy. What could they use to withstand Qilu's offense?
As expected, after the reversal of the score, the players of the Oriental team felt a sense of relief in their hearts, and the fatigue that had been hidden by their excited state suddenly burst out. Zhang Linpeng, who had performed well before, was the first to cramp up and fall to the ground. His physical condition, which was said to be "very good", was only relatively good compared to players of the same age. As a 16-year-old boy, his physical ability was limited, let alone playing in positions that consumed the most energy, such as right-back or left-back. Moreover, with the long time spent on the pitch and the need for at least 10% extra running for each player, the physical consumption of the Oriental team's players increased further. For Zhang Linpeng to have held on until this point was already quite difficult...
